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The story of Finding Neverland is,
for sure, sentimental. We have children, fantasy and animals, and
explore love, death, devotion and most of all, inspiration. It should
be sentimental and in fact, it better be!
Click here for more...
Central to Finding Neverland is Johnny
Depp, the recent Golden Globe nominee and Oscar nominee, who as
much as any leading modern actor, seems to have kept his own childlike
spirit vibrantly alive. Says Marc Forster of Depp: "Johnny
is perfect to represent a man who never wants to grow up because
you can see that he has this very accessible child inside him from
the choices of movie roles he makes. He brought something very special
to the role, underplaying it in a way that really pays homage to
the man we both believe Barrie wanted to be."
Click here for more...
The boundless imagination of the man behind
"Peter Pan" and the poignancy of his journey combine in
this emotional tale inspired by events in the life of Scottish author
James Mathew Barrie. In Finding Neverland, director Marc
Forster ("Monster’s Ball") and an accomplished cast
including Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman and Julie Christie
take a fictional look at the creation of "Peter Pan,"
the classic of children’s literature that speaks directly to
the child in all of us. Finding Neverland traverses both
fantasy and everyday reality, melding the difficulties and heartbreak
of adult life with the spellbinding allure and childlike innocence
of the boy who never grows up.
Click here for more...
Click here...
Click here...
 
The story of Finding Neverland is, for
sure, sentimental. We have children, fantasy and animals, and explore
love, death, devotion and most of all, inspiration. It should be
sentimental and in fact, it better be!
By necessity, the music should convey the same emotional story -
but must not repeat it. Jan's brilliance is his ability to add new
emotional complexity to scenes rather than merely underlining what_s
already there. He provides his own distinct comment on the emotion
and events in the film, and therein enriches it. Working with Jan,
our director Marc Forster and editor Matt Chesse was a tremendous
experience - as were the recording sessions in London.
A highlight of the recording was pianist Leszek Mozdzer on our final
session on the last day. He performed the piano overdubs meticulously,
with great precision and speed. As we approached the final cue,
I asked Jan what were going to do with the additional several hours
he insisted we schedule with Leszek. Jan grinned, scratched his
beard and laughed his most mysterious laugh - "ah, just wait
and see!" he replied.
I spent the next two hours stunned, listening to Leszek perform
improvised variations on our themes. Speaking wildly in Polish,
accompanied with animated flourishes and gestures, Jan and Leszek
worked and re-worked the themes and created music so rich and expressive
that it felt as if the entire orchestra was performing. We included
several of these pieces on the CD, as they are an indisputably part
of the music created for our film.
Jan told me that he endeavors to create a soundtrack album that
is not simply a rote replica of the music as it appears in the film,
but rather a listening experience that will stand on its own. I
think he accomplished
this, and much more.
Richard Gladstein
Producer
www.miramax.com/findingneverland
www.universalclassics.com
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Central to Finding Neverland is Johnny
Depp, the recent Golden Globe nominee and Oscar nominee, who as
much as any leading modern actor, seems to have kept his own childlike
spirit vibrantly alive. Says Marc Forster of Depp: "Johnny
is perfect to represent a man who never wants to grow up because
you can see that he has this very accessible child inside him from
the choices of movie roles he makes. He brought something very special
to the role, underplaying it in a way that really pays homage to
the man we both believe Barrie wanted to be."
Depp also found his way into his role by working with a voice coach
on an authentic Scottish brogue, which he employs with the quiet
air of a man who on some levels will always remain an enigma.
Depp particularly enjoyed how the story of Finding Neverland
is propelled by the undercurrent of unspoken love between his character
and Kate Winslet’s — a love that never becomes a typical
romance. "The film never seems to go quite where you expect
it go," he says. "It never turns into a sentimental love
story of two people destined to be together or that sort of thing.
Instead, it’s a much more complicated and moving relationship
between two people who need each other on a level that’s really
beyond explanation or words."
Most of all, though, Depp was drawn to the role by the magic of
the "Peter Pan" story itself. "It’s truly a
work of genius," he says. "It’s a masterpiece of
imagination, and the result of the most remarkable inspiration.
It’s one of those rare perfect things in the world that will
always be with us and this was a wonderful opportunity to explore
where such a powerful story might have come from."
For Kate Winslet, working with Johnny Depp really drove home the
film’s idea that anyone can tap into the spontaneity and adventure
of being a child again. "Johnny was so able to be a child on
the set that it was sort of like working with five children for
me! He made me and the boys constantly laugh with his cleverness
which is exactly what we needed to create the spirit of the story."
"The character of Sylvia is such an interesting person,"
she notes, "because she’s a very modern mother in an era
when the view of children was just starting to change. Most people
still believed children should be seen and not heard, and children
were typically kept away from the adult life in the household. Sylvia
does things differently, and she reflects a change in how children
were raised. She’s very involved in her children’s upbringing
and she encourages them to be free spirits. I love the fact that
she’s such a nonconformist."
Winslet continues: "But Sylvia is also a recent widow, so there’s
a lot of buried grief and anger in her, and I think that’s
part of what makes James M. Barrie so intriguing to her. He’s
this larger-than-life character who couldn’t be more different
from most of the men she meets in her social circle. She’s
really magnetically drawn to this man, not because he seduces her,
but because he welcomes her into his incredible fantasy world. I
do believe at the end of the day, this is a love story, but it’s
about the love between Barrie and a whole family."
Another character who plays a unique role in Barrie’s creation
of "Peter Pan" is that of Charles Frohman, the wealthy
American impresario who stood by Barrie through much of his career,
and finds himself backing an entirely unconventional fantasy play
he fears will be a failure.
Academy Award-winner Dustin Hoffman took on the role of Frohman
in part so he could work with both Forster and Depp. Hoffman was
also intrigued by Frohman’s profound commitment to making an
artist’s dreams come true, no matter how risky.
The film was shot in England, often at authentic locations including
central London’s legendary Kensington Gardens as well as the
historic Saville Club and the 19th Century Brompton Cemetery.
The scenes at the Duke of York’s Theatre were all filmed at
the historical Richmond Theatre in Surrey, a lavish turn-of-the-century
stage which was built in 1899 and refurbished to its original splendor
in the 1990s.
But the most excitement came in creating a place that never really
existed yet many feel they have visited: Neverland, the enchanted
isle of idyllic forests and lagoons, which was built from scratch
on soundstages at Shepperton Studios.
www.miramax.com/findingneverland
www.universalclassics.com
back to top
The boundless imagination of the man behind
"Peter Pan" and the poignancy of his journey combine in
this emotional tale inspired by events in the life of Scottish author
James Mathew Barrie. In Finding Neverland, director Marc
Forster ("Monster’s Ball") and an accomplished cast
including Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman and Julie Christie
take a fictional look at the creation of "Peter Pan,"
the classic of children’s literature that speaks directly to
the child in all of us. Finding Neverland traverses both
fantasy and everyday reality, melding the difficulties and heartbreak
of adult life with the spellbinding allure and childlike innocence
of the boy who never grows up.
It all begins as successful Scottish playwright J.M. Barrie (Depp)
watches his latest play open to a ho-hum reaction among the polite
society of Edwardian England. A literary genius of his times but
bored by the same old themes, Barrie is clearly in need of some
serious inspiration. Unexpectedly, he finds it one day during his
daily walk with his St. Bernard Porthos in London’s Kensington
Gardens. There, Barrie encounters the Llewelyn Davies family: four
fatherless boys and their beautiful, recently widowed mother (Winslet).
Despite the disapproval of the boys’ steely grandmother Emma
du Maurier (Christie) and the resentment of his own wife (Radha
Mitchell), Barrie befriends the family, engaging the boys in tricks,
disguises, games and sheer mischief, creating play-worlds of castles
and kings, cowboys and Indians, pirates and castaways. He transforms
hillsides into galleon ships, sticks into mighty swords, kites into
enchanted fairies and the Llewelyn Davies boys into "The Lost
Boys of Neverland."
From the sheer thrills and adventurousness of childhood will come
Barrie’s most daring and renowned masterwork, "Peter Pan."
At first, his theatrical company is skeptical. While his loyal producer
Charles Frohman (Hoffman) worries he’ll lose his shirt on this
children’s fantasy, Barrie begins rehearsals only to shock
his actors with such unprecedented requests as asking them to fly
across the stage, talk to fairies made out of light and don dog
and crocodile costumes.
Then, just as Barrie is ready to introduce the world to "Peter
Pan," a tragic twist of fate will make the writer and those
he loves most understand just what it means to really believe.
www.miramax.com/findingneverland
www.universalclassics.com
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1 Where Is Mr. Barrie?
2 The Park
3 Dancing With The Bear
4 The Kite
5 The Chess
6 Neverland – Piano Variation In Blue
7 The Spoon On The Nose
8 The Pirates
9 The Marriage
10 Children Arrive
11 Drive To The Cottage
12 The Peter Pan Overture
13 Peter
14 The Park On Piano
15 The Stairs
16 Impossible Opening
17 The Rehearsal
18 Neverland – Minor Piano Variation
19The Play And The Flight
20 This Is Neverland
21 Why Does She Have To Die?
22 Another Bear
23 Forgotten Overture
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Sir J.M. Barrie Johnny Depp
Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies Kate Winslet
Mrs. Du Maurier Julie Christie
Mary Ansell Barrie Radha Mitchell
Charles Frohman Dustin Hoffman
Mrs. Snow Eileen Essell
Peter Llewelyn-Davies Freddie Highmore
Jack Llewelyn-Davies Joe Prospero
George Llewelyn-Davies Nicholas Roud
Michael Llewelyn-Davies Luke Spill
Marc Forster Director
Jan A.P. Kaczmarek Composer
David Magee Screenwriter
Richard Gladstein Producer
www.miramax.com/findingneverland
www.universalclassics.com
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